11.30.2011

Gem of the day

In the midst of the promising disruption from Occupy Wall Street, and against the backdrop of the unraveling of the entire global financial system, the FT management section - specifically loyal columnist Luke Johnson - has an insight to share with his readers:

"Should the chief executive be on Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, YouTube and Google+?...More practitioners in business should be out there [in social media] describing their experiences and giving their opinions. It might help correct some of the misinformation promulgated by anticapitalists, and the general scepticism about wealth creators expressed by much of the media."

Breathtaking.

11.29.2011

Gem of the day

Tom Burke, former head of WWF, on his view of the world through the lens of 40 years of environmentalism:

"There's nothing wrong with the people in this world, only in the politics of it."

11.28.2011

Another non-environmental wonder

Patrick Brune, OWS spokesman, delivers a real zinger (via the Village Voice):

"We elected a person who ran on change and hope. And I don't see too much change and I don't have too much hope...the way things are right now, we can't use the government."

Bonus gem

Anna Simpson (via Green Futures) picks up on the drivers behind a car-dominated 'mobility' debate:

"The fact that Renault was sponsoring the event, produced by EcomobilityTV, is the easiest explanation for the ghostly presence of the car in a room of non-drivers. More often than not, we put our mouth where the money is. It’s wise to remember that the money may well be elsewhere in years to come."

Gem of the day

For anyone who has had the pleasure of driving down one of America's pot-holed highways recently, it's no hidden fact that the political system isn't the only thing crumbling around the USA.

There's a solution to this ailing infrastructure. And who do we have to thank for putting up the cash? No, not state and local governments.

China. Via the FT:

"China Investment Corporation, the country’s main sovereign wealth fund, plans to invest in the dilapidated infrastructure of developed countries, starting with the UK, according to Lou Jiwei, the fund’s chairman."

11.25.2011

Gem of the day

British Gas is tackling head-on what they call 'unfair' consumer perceptions of price-fixing with another beauty of a campaign. In a confrontational style reminiscent of Total Energy's 2010 CR report, BG is delivering answers to a set of 5 questions which include this zinger:



The alternative response is pretty obvious: it's the non-renewable part of fossil fuels, stupid.

11.23.2011

Another non-environmental wonder

The Pentagon has single-handedly redefined the benchmark for 'business as usual' with this stunner:

"Despite Threat of Cuts, Pentagon Made No Contingency Plans"

To top it off, here's a quote to put that dismal performance in context from someone who clearly spends too much time talking military matters around the Beltway:

"'The Pentagon has been cutting weapons programs by hundreds of billions of dollars for three years now,” said Loren B. Thompson, a consultant to military contractors. 'There’s not much left to kill that won’t affect the military’s safety or success.'”

Har har.

11.22.2011

Gem of the day

Wouldn't expect anything less from the CBI, but there's a slight issue with their position statement on Climate Change and Energy on their website:

"For UK business, climate change is no longer a threat to be feared, but an opportunity to grow the economy and lead the world – and by tackling it, we can make energy safer and more plentiful for all."

Was this written 50 years from now?


Something that's actually good

Unilever CEO Paul Polman's 10-second summary of sustainable development (via the GSB Hub):

"I use the term VUCA to describe the world – volatile, uncertain, complex and ambiguous. It is very difficult for people to get a total picture. The food, water, energy nexus is so inter-related that it is for most people too difficult to know where to start and where to end."

Exactly.

11.21.2011

Gem of the day

Memo to the world from an airline CEO: successful business people are male.

"'Obviously the first-class passenger is a very senior person in his company, coming a long way around the world, and probably doing something very important for his business,' said John Slosar, the chief executive of Cathay Pacific Airways. 'He requires to be able to sleep, work on his speech, perhaps take a shower upon arrival, so he can hit the ground running.'”

Another non-environmental wonder

A great metric for determining whether your idea is worldchanging and powerful is this one:

If and when the iron triangle of business interest groups and policymakers think about launching an attack campaign against you.

This week's success: A written pitch to the American Bankers Association from a prominent Washington lobbying firm, Clark Lytle Geduldig & Cranford, proposing a $850,000 smear campaign against Occupy Wall Street. CLGC’s memo proposes that the ABA pay up to conduct “opposition research” on OWS in order to construct “negative narratives” about the protests and allied politicians.

Zing!

Another non-environmental wonder

Arnold Schwarzenegger, profiled by Michael Lewis in the author's new book about the financial crisis (via the New York Review of Books):

'[Schwarzenegger] wears no bike helmet, runs red lights, and rips past DO NOT ENTER signs without seeming to notice them, and up one-way streets. When he wants to cross three lanes of fast traffic he doesn’t so much as glance over his shoulder but just sticks out his hand and follows suit, assuming that whatever is behind him will stop. His bike has ten speeds but he uses just two: zero, and pedalling as fast as he can….

'It isn’t until he is forced to stop at a red light that he makes meaningful contact with the public. A woman pushing a baby stroller and talking on a cell phone crosses the street right in front of him, and does a double take. “Oh…my…God,” she gasps into her phone. “It’s Bill Clinton!” She’s not ten feet away and she keeps talking to the phone, as if the man is unreal. “I’m here with Bill Clinton.”

“It’s one of those guys who has had a sex scandal,” says Arnold, smiling.'

11.18.2011

Bonus gem

The Economist's Global Energy Conversation webinar, happening now: a room full of white, middle-aged men and merely one woman, debating the various ways we can power our future.

How innovative.

And what's wrong with this audience poll, one of a few that are optional?

Gem of the day

Daniel Kahneman single-handedly destroys the assumptions we hold around bankers and the reasons for their success (via The Guardian):

'The findings of the psychologist Daniel Kahneman, winner of a Nobel economics prize, are devastating to the beliefs that financial high-fliers entertain about themselves. He discovered that their apparent success is a cognitive illusion. For example, he studied the results achieved by 25 wealth advisers across eight years. He found that the consistency of their performance was zero. "The results resembled what you would expect from a dice-rolling contest, not a game of skill." Those who received the biggest bonuses had simply got lucky.'

The point aligns nicely with the words of ol' Joseph Schumpeter (remember him?)

‘The monetary system of a people reflects everything that the nation wants, does, suffers, is.’

11.17.2011

Gem of the day

Here's two facts that illustrate the absurd divide between energy sources and government planning around infrastructure in the US:

1. Texas is in the midst of a terrible drought which is projected to last for at least the next decade, alongside declining water reserves and a growing population.

2. The gas industry in Texas uses a couple million gallons of freshwater to frack a single well. That's water that, sadly enough, can't be recycled for human consumption because of the additives it contains.

If only there was an unlimited energy solution available that didn't suck up water, and ways to convince people of the collective potential of using a little less water every day.


For the state with the greatest proportion of wind power in the nation, this is just sad.

11.16.2011

Something that's actually good

It's hard to pick out which parts of Naomi Klein's radically superb article in the Nation I like the most, but here's two for starters:
  • '...climate change isn’t “the issue.” In fact, it isn’t an issue at all. Climate change is a message, one that is telling us that many of our culture’s most cherished ideas are no longer viable.'
  • '... the [climate deniers] may be in considerably less denial than a lot of professional environmentalists, the ones who paint a picture of global warming Armageddon, then assure us that we can avert catastrophe by buying “green” products and creating clever markets in pollution.'

Gem of the day

Urgent incoming message to the sustainability community from the friendly professionals at PwC:

"Airline Sustainability Reports Need Improvement"

Thanks for the memo.

"Southwest Airlines, UPS, Delta, Air France KLM, Iberia, LAN Airlines and Lufthansa produced the best sustainability reports by airlines last year, according to a PricewaterhouseCoopers analysis.[PwC] rated all seven reports as 'good,' meaning they scored 61 to 80 percent of possible points."

Right.

11.15.2011

Gem of the day

Social media is supposed to be great for giving people a voice and a space for debate, but with comments like this gem--responding to Naomi Klein's extraordinary piece in the Nation this week--sometimes I start to think the Internet was a big mistake. Cheers to the author of it for somehow managing to get the entire point of Klein's article wrong.

"You say a plan is needed. I agree, but a much larger plan than one limited to environmental protection. I call the larger plan I propose the POW! Plan. It's a homophone and mirror image of the "battle" plan that LF Powell, soon-to-be US Supreme Court Justice, fired off to the U.S. Chamber of Commerce. He was worried that liberals were ruining the free-enterprise system. His plan sparked the "corporate revolution" that became the fifth corpocracy in America's history."

Jesus. But there's another comment further down through the wreckage that really takes the cake:

"Seriously, who cares?"

11.14.2011

Bonus gem

Did the man behind Schumpeter at the Economist talk to anyone in the sustainable development community before publishing this week's column, "Why firms go green"?

Witness this particular gem in which he effortlessly lumps together Coca-Cola, Unilever, Nestle and PepsiCo:

"...all of which have big ambitions in developing countries and use a lot of water. Each firm’s embrace of greenery has followed a similar pattern."

Dear Schumpter, please call Paul Polman. I daresay he would beg to differ. And remind yourself of the difference between Nestle's sustainability PR and what its chairman actually believes according to interviews.

Gem of the day

And now for the one of the most disappointing--yet unsurprising--news pieces of the month (via NY Times):

"EDF, the giant power utility and the world’s biggest operator of nuclear power plants, was found guilty on Thursday of spying on Greenpeace in a bizarre and convoluted computer hacking case."

Memo to EDF: everyone gets caught eventually (see Madoff, Bernie and Nixon, Watergate). And yes, Greenpeace is probably planning direct action against you for your planned nuclear expansion France. I'm so certain there are more productive ways to deliver sound stakeholder engagement than theft.

Moment of expert insight from the Times: "...the company is unlikely to welcome the renewed scrutiny." 

11.08.2011

Gem of the day

More often then not, what passes for news in the sustainability community can sound like material lifted from the Onion or the Daily Mash.

Here's a headline that serves up the proof (via the Guardian):

"Rio Earth Summit postponed after clash with Queen's Diamond Jubilee"

Thank god we've got our priorities in order. And also thank god there's a shadow energy & climate secretary who is clever enough to come up with this genius quote to shame David Cameron (who won't be attending, regardless of the jubilee):

"What a sad turn of events that David Cameron, who would hug a huskie for a press stunt just a few years, has now cold-shouldered the biggest environmental conference for 20 years."

'Environmental conference'? That's a surefire way of transcending that thorny, decades-old 'economy vs. environment' debate.

But wait! It gets even better. WWF actually takes the time to pander to David Cameron's mind-boggling inability to understand the significance of Rio +20:

"[WWF said:] Now it has been confirmed that the Earth summit is being moved specifically to accommodate the Commonwealth heads of government we would hope that the prime minister can find time in his busy schedule to attend the Rio summit."

Thanks for reading, David!

11.03.2011

Gem of the day

Grist has an excellent interview with Bruce Bradley, a veteran of what Bradley terms 'big food' (General Mills, Nabisco, you get the picture). Bradley's turned rogue after 15 years in the vortex but paints a remarkably sane and reasonable picture of why there are such deeply ingrained issues with the ways most of the food in the world is produced, marketed and consumed.

Gems are his top three things every consumer should know about the industry:
  • "Big Food is profit-driven. Don't be fooled into thinking a brand or the food company that owns it cares about you or your health."
  • "Think critically. Most claims and advertising by Big Food companies are meant to manipulate you, not educate you. Read your labels and do your research."
  • "There is no free lunch. Over the long-term, you always get what you pay for. Cheap food is very expensive once you add up the true costs -- like the taxes you pay to subsidize Big Food companies, health consequences like obesity or diabetes, the devastating harm to our environment, and the inhumane treatment of animals raised within the industrialized food system"

11.02.2011

Gem of the day

The NY Times reports on an extraordinary move by residents in Boulder, Colorado, to oust national corporate utility Xcel in favour of a locally accountable, greener utility.

Here's the gem, especially for anyone who has ever had the pleasure of encountering Office Space:

"'I can’t find the numbers for how Boulder is going to do it better,' said Bob Bellemare, an Xcel consultant."